Bordier Butter Risotto With Seared Scallops

Risotto is a dish about patience and one about fat, and this version leans hard on the second. Maison Bordier stirs rice into a vegetable broth in the usual way, finishes it with Parmesan, then sears scallops in Bordier Salted Butter and sets a last dab of butter on top so it slackens into the rice. It serves four. The rice takes about 20 minutes of steady attention, and the scallops take four.

At a glance

Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 4
Active time: About 35 minutes, nearly all of it at the stove
Cook: About 20 minutes for the rice, 4 minutes for the scallops
Key ingredient: 50 g Bordier Salted Butter, plus a knob of Bordier Butter and Caviar to finish

Why this works

Two butters do two jobs. The 50 g of Bordier Salted Butter is a cooking fat: semi-salted at 2.8 percent, creamy, with caramel and hazelnut notes that come forward under heat, which is exactly what you want against the sugars in a scallop as it browns. The finishing knob is not cooked at all. It sits on the hot rice and melts down through it, so it arrives on the palate as itself rather than as something that has been simmered into submission.

Bordier specifies their Butter and Caviar for that finishing dab, which we do not carry in the United States. Bordier Seaweed Butter is our substitute and a good one. Made in 1986, the first of the flavoured butters, it is built on iodised Breton seaweed and gives the same marine lift over a rich Parmesan risotto. The mechanics do not change: cold butter, hot rice, no stirring after it lands.

Ingredients

Serves four. Use a proper risotto rice, carnaroli or arborio, and grate the Parmesan yourself if you can.

Ingredient	Metric	US
Churned Salted Butter by Bordier	50 g	About 1.8 oz, under half a 4.4 oz block
Bordier Butter and Caviar, or Bordier Seaweed Butter	1 hazelnut-sized knob	1 hazelnut-sized knob
Risotto rice	300 g	About 10.5 oz, roughly 1 1/2 cups
Vegetable stock cube, in water	1 cube in 1 L	1 cube in about 4 cups
Scallops	12	12
Onion	1	1
Dry white wine	1 glass	1 glass
Grated Parmesan	100 g	About 1 cup
Olive oil	A drizzle	A drizzle

Method

Step 1: Start the broth and the onion

Bring the stock cube to a boil in 1 litre (about 4 cups) of water in a saucepan and keep it at a simmer for the whole of the cooking. Peel and slice the onion, then sweat it in a frying pan over high heat with a drizzle of olive oil until it takes a little color.

Step 2: Toast the rice and add the wine

Add the rice and fry it for a few seconds until the grains turn translucent. Once the rice is pearly, pour in the white wine and keep stirring. Let the alcohol cook off completely before you add two ladles of the hot broth.

Step 3: Build the risotto

Keep stirring, and wait until the rice has absorbed all the liquid before adding the next ladle. Repeat until the rice is cooked and soft, about 20 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the Parmesan.

Step 4: Sear the scallops and finish

Melt the Bordier Salted Butter in a frying pan and sear the scallops, about 2 minutes on each side. Set them over the risotto and top with a dab of butter.

Tips from our kitchen

Keep the broth hot. Cold stock hitting hot rice stops the cooking and makes the grains release starch unevenly. The saucepan should be simmering the entire time, not sitting off to one side.
Dry the scallops before they meet the butter. Pat them on paper towel and leave them uncovered for ten minutes if you have it. A wet scallop steams rather than sears and never develops the brown crust that makes this dish.
Do not crowd the scallop pan. Twelve scallops in one skillet will drop the temperature and pool liquid. Cook them in two batches, in the same butter, and keep the first batch somewhere warm.
Two minutes a side is a maximum, not a target. Scallops go from set to rubbery in about thirty seconds. When the flat face is deep gold and the sides have turned opaque a third of the way up, turn them.
Add the Parmesan off the heat. Stirred into a pan still on the burner, it strings and splits. Off the heat it emulsifies into the starch and gives you the gloss.
The finishing butter is not stirred in. Place it on top and leave it. Half the point is the streak of butter running down through the rice at the table.

How to serve it

Serve it the moment it comes off the stove, in warm shallow bowls, three scallops each. Risotto stiffens as it sits, so plate it slightly looser than you think it should be. A glass of the same white you cooked with is the right accompaniment. For more on how the salted butter behaves in savoury cooking, our Bordier butter guide is the place to start.

Where to buy Bordier butter in the US

The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.

The 50 g of semi-salted butter this recipe calls for is our salted block. The finishing dab is traditionally Bordier Butter and Caviar, which we do not carry, so we suggest the seaweed instead:

Churned Salted Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): semi-salted at 2.8 percent, with caramel and hazelnut notes, for searing the scallops.
Churned Seaweed Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): iodised Breton seaweed, our substitute for the caviar butter on top.

To see everything we import, browse the Maison Bordier collection.

Frequently asked questions

How much butter do I need to buy for this recipe?

You need 50 g for the scallops and a hazelnut-sized knob to finish, perhaps 5 g. Blocks are 125 g, or 4.4 oz, so one block of salted butter and one of seaweed covers it with plenty spare.

Why is there no link to Bordier Butter and Caviar?

We do not carry it. It is made in France but is not part of the range we import, so we have pointed you at the seaweed butter, which plays the same role.

Can I substitute another butter?

For the searing, the salted butter is the right call and hard to improve on. For the finishing dab, seaweed first, then the unsalted butter if you would rather the scallops speak for themselves. Skip the sweet flavours here.

How should I store the butter?

Wrapped, in the refrigerator, used by the date on the pack. Butter takes on nearby smells easily, so keep it clear of anything pungent. To hold it longer, freeze the block whole and thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Does the butter need to be refrigerated?

Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Get it into the refrigerator as soon as it arrives.

Can I make risotto ahead?

Not really. You can cook the rice most of the way, spread it on a tray to cool and finish it with the last ladles of broth later, which is what restaurants do. Sear the scallops only at the last minute.